If you notice, lately, for the most part the team is doing a better job of not relying on the 3, but instead running the play as it was intended and getting better shots. The players seem to be getting the hang of it lately. There are still a few bad shots going up, but more good shots are being taken now. These are some quotes that tell more of the truth:

(Mike talking about Gallo) “He’s shown that before. He has to have that mentality — that you’re open, you shoot and they close out, you drive. And you have to figure out that’s my game and don’t let anybody talk you out of it.” -- Mike D'Antoni

"We don't want to jack up threes early in the shot clock. There's a difference. If you're wide open and we get it down and they get you on the numbers, go ahead. Why find a worst shot if it's a good shot. We don't want you coming down, maybe off the dribble, and you're shooting 25 percent and jack it up." -- Mike D'Antoni

D'Antoni IS the problem. Here's why:

- it was apparent the Knicks missed Turiaf during the losing streak. How can D'Antoni make a comment stating that he didn't think Turiaf was valuable?

- you ever see D'Antoni give Gallo a snarky look after making a mistake? Never. To Gallo's credit, he has made some adjustments, or simply trusting his body to to be more aggressive driving the ball, but that is a player thing. Credit, team doctors.

- the recent change in Ray Felton is not due to coaching, it's the orange kicks.

- Landry Fields was the work of Donnie Walnuts. No coaching needed here. Just wind him up and he does the right thing.

- Amar'e Stoudemire is that good. But he is no center. Amar'e KNOWS he is no center. During the losing streak D'Antoni played Stoudemire at center. Dumb.

With that said, last night was a great road win and the way our boys withstood a late run was a beautiful thing.

It's not coaching. It's evolution.

misterearl wrote:nixluva - you know I look forward to your special brand of positivity but bear with me a moment on an alternate take.

D'Antoni IS the problem. Here's why:

- it was apparent the Knicks missed Turiaf during the losing streak. How can D'Antoni make a comment stating that he didn't think Turiaf was valuable?

- you ever see D'Antoni give Gallo a snarky look after making a mistake? Never. To Gallo's credit, he has made some adjustments, or simply trusting his body to to be more aggressive driving the ball, but that is a player thing. Credit, team doctors.

- the recent change in Ray Felton is not due to coaching, it's the orange kicks.

- Landry Fields was the work of Donnie Walnuts. No coaching needed here. Just wind him up and he does the right thing.

- Amar'e Stoudemire is that good. But he is no center. Amar'e KNOWS he is no center. During the losing streak D'Antoni played Stoudemire at center. Dumb.

With that said, last night was a great road win and the way our boys withstood a late run was a beautiful thing.

It's not coaching. It's evolution.

Regardless of playing out of his mind Raymond laced his sneakers on and came to play. It all is appears to be coming together for him.

Agree on Amar'e he is a finesse player. And looking much better. Moving the ball and even some success working from the left.
Lee might be more skilled being ambidextrous but Amar'e is much more explosive.

Turiaf with his great passing skills and defense is just what the Knicks need when they need it.
8 man rotation. Will the rotation be this tight going forward? Can they run with that energy on back to backs?

When it works you can tell the players are enjoying themselves.

This isn't about strength of opponent. It's about methodology and consistency. There has never been anything wrong with Mike's system and style of coaching. It's about the players and their ability and willingness to conform to what he's been teaching them. It's no accident that the team was chucking wildly and ignoring the primary focus of the plays and lately they've reigned in the lazy BB and have been moving more, passing more and taking fewer bad shots. It's not perfect yet, but they're starting to show signs of getting it. Old habits are hard to break and I suspect when they get tired they'll again revert to playing stupid BB, but to the extent that they stay on top of this they'll have far more games where the do it right.

Childs2Dudley wrote:

nixluva wrote:I can see that it's still not clear what my point is. Given more time it will be much more obvious to everyone what i've been saying. It's not just about the last two wins. You have to be more observant than judging only by the W/L column. The general accusation by those who have been critical of Mike is that his style of play is to blame, or that his decision making is suspect and they aren't seeing any results. My point is that it takes time for his teachings to be absorbed and for the team to execute on a high level and with fewer periods of time where they lose focus on what they're supposed to be doing. Especially with such a young team.

This isn't about strength of opponent. It's about methodology and consistency. There has never been anything wrong with Mike's system and style of coaching. It's about the players and their ability and willingness to conform to what he's been teaching them. It's no accident that the team was chucking wildly and ignoring the primary focus of the plays and lately they've reigned in the lazy BB and have been moving more, passing more and taking fewer bad shots. It's not perfect yet, but they're starting to show signs of getting it. Old habits are hard to break and I suspect when they get tired they'll again revert to playing stupid BB, but to the extent that they stay on top of this they'll have far more games where the do it right.

We gave up 119 points last night and they didn't even have David Lee. The defense for me is awful.

Usually I think our help defense is solid, but last night it didnt exist. Our defense has carried us in some games, but is non existent in others. Like the end of the portland game. I dont know how many stops we got in a row but we couldnt score. Our offense failed. But last night we didnt play an ounce of D.

When our offense is clicking like that, when Felton is dropping in ridiculous last second fallaway shots, and the basket is as big as the ocean, we should win. But if the defense doesn't show up at all were gonna blow some of those games. And the capability is there with this group. They are just lazy. And say what you want but I blame a decent portion on Mike for not motivating his players, getting them well prepared and organized, and focused for 48 minutes.

scoshin wrote:This is why D'Antoni is and will forever be a problem:

From the NYTimes' game recap, on GS's 4th quarter run

“You have to keep scoring,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said, “and if you lose your concentration they would have won. But Gallo hits some timely 3s and kind of solidified everything.”

Still want D'Antoni fired, but I'll give him kudos for getting more of our players to move off-the-ball in the offense. We ran a lot more curls, and had a lot of players sneak in for backdoor cuts last night, which is something I'd like to see more of. Now if only we added the occasional post play, and D'Antoni may actually have a complete NBA playbook.

Mike acknowledged that the team got stagnant on D at the end and let GS back in. His comments were that in that situation when you are up and your D gets out of whack you must keep playing good O to secure the win. When you outscore a team 41-28 in a qtr you're defense has to be doing something right. Sure the Knicks D was awful for much of the game and they couldn't stop Ellis and Curry, but in the end they got stops or else how do you win the game?

Mike's trying to get the players to execute the progressions of the sets better and not just jack up lazy jumpers. It's not like the motion you saw and the curls were something new. These things are part of the playbook but you never see it if guys come down and jack up early shots.

Childs2Dudley wrote:

nixluva wrote:I can see that it's still not clear what my point is. Given more time it will be much more obvious to everyone what i've been saying. It's not just about the last two wins. You have to be more observant than judging only by the W/L column. The general accusation by those who have been critical of Mike is that his style of play is to blame, or that his decision making is suspect and they aren't seeing any results. My point is that it takes time for his teachings to be absorbed and for the team to execute on a high level and with fewer periods of time where they lose focus on what they're supposed to be doing. Especially with such a young team.

This isn't about strength of opponent. It's about methodology and consistency. There has never been anything wrong with Mike's system and style of coaching. It's about the players and their ability and willingness to conform to what he's been teaching them. It's no accident that the team was chucking wildly and ignoring the primary focus of the plays and lately they've reigned in the lazy BB and have been moving more, passing more and taking fewer bad shots. It's not perfect yet, but they're starting to show signs of getting it. Old habits are hard to break and I suspect when they get tired they'll again revert to playing stupid BB, but to the extent that they stay on top of this they'll have far more games where the do it right.

We gave up 119 points last night and they didn't even have David Lee. The defense for me is awful.

We will always give up a lot of points when you play at that pace.

I'm still wait and see on MDA. The 3's kill me. Taking 25 a game is ludicris. Does anyone realize the Knicks are #2 in the NBA in FT attempts? Thats crazy.. we are attacking the basket and getting to line as well as any team in the NBA. Obviously its a strength.

I think he's done a good job fixing some of the Felton problems. Has anyone noticed the stress on ball movement and that other guys (Gallo and Fields) are running the pick and roll? Meanwhile Felton's scoring has improved and his assists off the scoring have increased. He's looked great running the break and a dozen games into Felton is giving you almost 18/8 a night. Who wouldnt have signed up for that?

I just want to see fewer 3's and more pushing the ball.

MDA has also handled Gallo's slump well because the rooster is beasting

crzymdups wrote:D'Antoni certainly was the problem. He was trying to force Felton to be Steve Nash.

Credit goes to him for subtly adjusting Felton's role and making the offense use a lot more ball movement and less dependcy on the pick and roll. It was a great adjustment and the offense took off as a result.

Ball movement is the hardest thing to guard against in the NBA. Teams that have an ELITE point guard can get away without relying on it too much, but otherwise moving the ball around is all important.

There was a possession in Golden State towards the end of the game where literally every Knick on the floor touched the ball and it resulted in a wide open three for Gallo. It was beautiful. Great adjustment by MDA.

The defense is precarious. I'd like to see some improvements there, but you can't argue with the offense.

Excellent points on the subtle adujustments on the O by MDA. Definitely want to see improvement on the defensive end (epecially in the paint). It seems like if we dont get a block or a steal, its a bucket for the opposition. We've stepped up opn the hustle plays (blocks, steals and deflections) and are very opportunistic on D but Turiaf is still smallish for a big, Mosgoz is still learning and Amare was never a defensive beast. We definitely need another defensive big upfront to help out.